Omoyele¹s warm smile and affable manner masked years of the emotional and physical abuse he suffered through years of torture at the hands of his government. ³It¹s not about me,² he said. ³It¹s about a world that doesn¹t support another human being. It¹s about issues and problems have even become acceptable here.² About enduring years of torture for being a pro-democracy activist, he said, ³I have a heart of steel inside me.²
As someone who has lost freedom, Omoyele told the group, who hung on his every soft-spoken word, that¹s the reason he can appreciate it. Being a victim of torture in his native land, he was disheartened when the Abu Ghraib prison scandal broke in this country. ³It was like a stake through my heart that the U.S. government sanctions torture.² He blamed U.S. oil interests and companies like Halliburton for fueling brutality in Nigeria. ³It¹s not acceptable for humans to kill for the sake of oil,² said Omoyele, who also said that Americans, for the most part, are ill-informed about Africa and other third world nations, because they watch too much television. ³TV is an extension of corporate information or disinformation,² warned Omoyele.
In addition to traveling to more than 60 cities a year for Amnesty International, Omoyele, who was educated in Nigeria and studied at Columbia University, also works with Catholic Charities helping to resettle refugees. Sowore also told the group that in 1999 he checked into the Bellevue-NYU Program for Torture Survivors to treat long-lasting effects of an unknown substance forced into him by Nigerian security police.
The co-president of the Amnesty International club at South Side is Steve Koch, a junior, who said his interest in human rights has developed over time. ³I¹ve always loved learning about history and politics, and over time I developed an awareness of the terrible crimes that were being committed around the world. That consciousness motivated me to act, and Amnesty International was the perfect way to get involved.²
Koch was bolstered by the size of the group that showed up to hear Omoyele speak. He said he got the impression afterward that the students who attended not only enjoyed Sowore¹s speech, but were inspired to become more involved in the human rights movement as a result.
Paired with Omoyele¹s compelling speech was artwork by local artist Chris Evans. His mural, entitled ³Riches of the Nile Delta,² hung in the lobby of the school, and depicted the rich past of the region along with the political unrest that has plagued it for years. Koch said that Evans¹ artwork was a wonderful complement to Sowore¹s speech. ³It really helped give students a better understanding of life in Nigeria.²
Phil D¹Elia, a social studies teacher at South Side who has been the club¹s adviser for the past six years, has steadily watched it grow. ³My philosophy is that it¹s all about student empowerment. They determine the issues, they set the agenda. There are so many problems in the world, they have so many frustrations. This is a club where they channel that into something positive.² D¹Elia said that students are not always sure where they stand on an issue, and they don¹t necessarily have to embrace the person¹s perspective, but through the club, the kids can see that everyone is entitled to basic human rights.
Other hard working leaders of South Side¹s chapter include co-president Jessica Fitzpatrick, and vice presidents Donnie Leistman and Adam Levine, who Koch said ³are extremely dedicated to the club.² Koch thought the event was a huge success for the club and is encouraged that students half a world away, by becoming informed, can make a difference in trouble spots around the globe. Said Koch, ³The idea that I hope people took away from the event, which I think Sowore¹s speech and Chris¹ artwork really emphasized, is that even a group of kids in Rockville Centre, New York can make a difference. Just last year, our group sent a petition to Turkey on behalf of a prisoner of conscience named Leyla Zana. She was released soon afterwards. Of course, it wasn¹t our letter alone that secured her release, but when enough people actually speak up, these things are possible.²
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